


Not just for the views

by old_starlit



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Pining, YouTube, Youtuber AU, but i needed them in the millions so they had a "fandom" so to speak, this was supposed to be 1k words and ended up at 9k, unrealistic subscriber counts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8956480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_starlit/pseuds/old_starlit
Summary: Alexander Hamilton was a vlogger, in simple terms. All he needed to survive was a camera, a phone, and wifi, he had no qualms about walking around, talking to nobody, and he spent all his extra energy editing videos at one AM.So maybe YouTuber would be a better description.Yes, he, Alexander Hamilton was a proud YouTuber, and a popular one, with a steadily growing channel and the world was going to know his name.Or at least the internet.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flaming_trash_pile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaming_trash_pile/gifts).



Alexander Hamilton was a vlogger, in simple terms. All he needed to survive was a camera, a phone, and wifi, he had no qualms about walking around, talking to nobody, and he spent all his extra energy editing videos at one AM.

So maybe YouTuber would be a better description.

Yes, he, Alexander Hamilton was a proud YouTuber, and a popular one, with a steadily growing channel and the world was going to know his name.

Or at least the internet.

—

“And there you have it,” Alex addressed the camera as he neared his house. “Another reason why Thomas Jefferson is an asshole. Hope you enjoyed this video, leave a like and subscribe if you did, and I’ll see you in the next video!” He shut off the camera, opened the door to his apartment, and walked in.

He was too tired to edit right away, deciding instead to take out a notebook and began to write. He was a writer, or at least wanted to be, but as a starving artist, nothing seemed to publish and he was barely scraping by. That’s when he started to record himself.

It started with him just vlogging his everyday life, but then it escalated to rants on social issues, challenges, social experiments and skyrocketed into a full-time job, with writing being merely a hobby.

His phone buzzed and he smiled, picking it up. “Hey, Eliza,” he said, putting down his notebook. “What’s up?”

“Okay, you will _not_ believe what just happened,” Eliza said, laughter evident in her voice. “I was baking and then the flour bag just exploded _everywhere_ and we’re trying to clean it up now and oh my god it was hilarious and I was still recording too. The video’s going up tomorrow.”

Alex laughed. “I look forward to seeing it. Need any help though?”

“We Schuylers got this,” Eliza replied. “Although Angelica seems to be on the verge of killing me.”

Eliza lived with her two sisters, Angelica and Peggy. She was also YouTuber, her channel mainly based on cooking and just doing whatever on her mind. Angelica didn’t have a channel, she was a journalist (her column was called _A Mind at Work_ ), but she also edited videos for some YouTuber in South Carolina. Peggy was still in college, almost finished with it. She had no channel over her own but was Tumblr famous, shitposts and all.

But then again, despite Angelica and Peggy claiming they didn’t have a channel, they appeared so often in her videos it was practically shared between the three of them.

“Well, good luck with that. And, hey, thinking of doing a collab with me? I was thinking we could try a challenge video together.”

“Ooh, that’d be fun!” Eliza said excitedly. “As long as it’s not anything disgusting.”

“Uh-huh,” Alex said, making a note in his notebook: _Find a disgusting challenge_. “So I’ll let you know the details later?”

“Yeah. I just have to— _okay_ , Angelica! I’m coming!” To Alex, she said, “Okay, I really need to clean this up. See you!” “Bye, Eliza,” Alex replied, laughing. He hung up, shaking his head slightly. He popped open his own YouTube channel, viewing his subscriber count quickly.

Eight million. Fuck yeah.

—

John didn’t mean to become a YouTuber. He really didn’t. It just...happened.

He had always loved gaming, ignoring his father’s disapproval, preferring to immerse himself in virtual worlds as opposed to socializing with others outside, preferring to talk through screens than face-to-face.

He started his channel in college, while studying law against his own wish. It was when he was more interested in uploading videos than actually studying for tests when he realized he was starting to seriously doubt going to law school. His grades plummeted while his subscriber count rose and he couldn’t’ve been happier.

It was almost like a final fuck-you to his father when he dropped out of college to pursue a full-time job doing YouTube, moving in with his friend, Hercules, someone who had supported him in his dream since the start.

Hercules was a giant man of pure muscle, towering over anything and anyone who met him. He was intimidating, went to the gym daily, and was the _king_ of DIY.

Which was what his channel was based on.

Don’t laugh. That was what John learned quickly after viewing his channel for the first time.

Hercules was a tailor, working at his own little shop, and John just crashed with him, trying to help make rent. On his first video, he could remember scrolling through the comments and reading the reviews.

> _This is actually kind of funny_
> 
> _Keep making videos! You're doing great!_
> 
> _Are there more to come?_
> 
> _this guy is tge fuckubg cancer of youtubr_
> 
> _My eyes are bleeding_
> 
> _ur gay_
> 
> _Click **here** to win a free IPhone!_

Well, of course the YouTube comments were not always a hundred percent reliable.

It was tough for both of them when his channel didn’t pick up as easily as he thought, but then everything changed when he hit 100,000 subscribers. And then 500,000. And then a million. And then two million. And then three million.

And now he’s at ten million and wondering how the heck this happened.

John finished recording his giant thank-you for his millions of subscribers, definitely _not_ looking forward to all the editing, and looked up as Hercules entered the room.

“Laf’s here,” Hercules said, angling his head towards the living room. “Want to talk to him?”

“Of course,” John replied, springing up. The two had moved into a much nicer home in Charleston, after they began to make more money. He crossed into the living room, grinning at Lafayette as he did so.

Of course to say Lafayette was _here_ was a bit of a stretch. Here on the computer screen, maybe, because Lafayette was in France.

“ _Bonjour, mon ami_!” Lafayette said excitedly. “ _Comment ça va?”_

“ _Bien_ ,” John replied, grinning. “ _Et toi_?”

“ _Tres bien_ ,” Lafayette responded. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Hercules coughed loudly.

“English please?” he asked. “I feel left out.”

“ _Fiine_ ,” Lafayette sighed, rolling his eyes and grinning. “It has been too long, my friends! I miss you.”

“We miss you too, Laf,” Hercules said. “And, hey, congrats on hitting twelve million!” Lafayette beamed. “Thank you! I never expected my channel to go so well!” Lafayette was a jack-of-all-trades, videos consisting of everything from gaming to makeup tutorials to vlogging to lookbooks. “I've been doing collabs with Maria and I think it's really helping me out.”

“Maria’s in New York City, right?” John asked. Maria was another YouTuber. Like Lafayette, she did a few makeup tutorials, but, really, she was a gamer. And a better gamer than John and Lafayette combined at that. “Maybe she knows Angelica. I’ll have to ask.” Angelica was his editor, living states away in New York. Her sister, Eliza, was a YouTuber as well. He was subscribed to her but never got around to actually talking to her.

“She is.” Lafayette nodded. “I’m pretty sure she knows Angelica and her sisters. Eliza’s great, by the way,” he addressed John. “You should get in touch with her.”

“I really should,” John sighed. “But there’s so much to do, you know? I’ll see what I can do.”

After a few more minutes of talking, Lafayette regretfully checked his watch. “I’ve got to go and record a new video,” he said. “I’ll call you again soon! I’ve got a collab to do with another YouTuber. Bye!”

“See you, Laf,” Hercules said, before closing Skype.

John stared at the blank screen, mind whirring. _A collab..._

—

**MINDS AT WORK | Minecraft w/ the Schuyler Sisters**

“Hey, everyone! I'm John Laurens in the place to be,” John addressed the camera. “And, as you can see, I’m not alone today! I’m with the Schuylers, Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy.”

“Hi, everyone.” Angelica grinned.

“Hello, internet!” Peggy waved, bouncing slightly in her seat.

“Hey,” Eliza said, smiling.

“Eliza’s got a channel, which I’ll link to in the description. You should watch her videos. I especially loved the one where the flour bag exploded,” he laughed. Turning to the other sister, he said, “Angelica’s actually edits all my videos, so she’s fucking awesome. Peggy is…”

“And Peggy,” Peggy replied.

“And Peggy,” John conceded. 

“So, John. What are we doing today?” Angelica asked, like she didn’t already know.

“Well, my dear Angelica,” he replied. “We’re going to play one of the most universal games. Minecraft. I’m pretty sure even you guys could play it.”

“Was that subtle sexism in saying girls can’t play games?” Angelica asked, raising her eyebrows.

“No, but I’m sorry it sounded that way,” John replied. “That was me subtly throwing shade at the fact that the last time I let you guys play a game it resulted in a fire.”

“Hey,” Peggy said. “I was good. I don’t know about these two, but I was good.”

Eliza laughed. “You were, Peggy,” she said. “What were you saying, John?”

“We’re playing the Hunger Games!” John said with a grin. “It’s easy to play and you’ll see how to when the game starts.”

The video cut to the game being up and ready. “Okay,” John said. “So, this might ruin all of our relationships because we basically have to kill each other.”

“I already love this game,” Peggy said.

—

“Hey, Alex,” Angelica called, walking over to Alex. He was in their apartment, simply hanging out, because they all had shared keys with one another and would randomly come to the other’s house. Needless to say, it made Alex’s vlogs a lot more interesting sometimes. 

“Yeah?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from his computer screen.

“You know John Laurens? The Youtube gamer who’s really popular and who I edit for and who’s channel you haven’t bothered to check out yet?”

Alex sighed. “Yes, I know him,” he muttered. 

“Well, I was in a video with him the other day. Eliza and Peggy as well. You should watch it.” Angelica raised her eyebrows at him, as if it were a challenge.

“I’ll watch it later,” Alex said dismissively. 

“You _better_ watch it later,” Angelica warned him. “I really think you would like him.”

“Yeah, okay,” Alex replied. He probably would like his channel, but Angelica had nagged him so much, that he consciously _tried_ not to watch his channel.

Although, he had to admit he was curious.

Clicking in the search bar, he typed _John Laurens_ and looked to see what popped up. There was his YouTube channel, but he skipped that and went down one to his Twitter. Clicking that, he took a look.

His icon was a turtle, which was...something. He didn’t seem very active, but his tweets ranged from self-deprecating jokes to happy phrases with an extravagant use of exclamation marks.

“Who the fuck uses ‘xD’ unironically in 2016?” he muttered, scrolling through his Twitter. Clicking on his channel, he looked towards his icon (another turtle) and his banner (something that looked hand-drawn) and his featured video, a generic channel trailer. He looked towards his subscriber count and—

Holy fuck.

_Ten million_. He knew this guy was popular but _ten million_? No way. Impossible. Why hadn’t Angelica told him?

He plugged his earbuds into his laptop, deciding to watch the video the Schuyler sisters were in.

““Hey, everyone! I'm John Laurens in the place to be!”

“Holy shit,” Alex breathed, because it was probably illegal for someone to have that many freckles. John was devastatingly attractive, and while Alex tried not to be shallow, he'd probably watch all of his videos, regardless of the quality, just to see this guy.

““And, as you can see, I’m not alone today! I’m with the Schuylers, Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy.” John was grinning widely, like a bubble of pent up energy, and Alex couldn’t help but smile as well. 

He finished the video, then watched another one, then watched another one, then watched another one, then finally tore his attention away and shut his laptop before he can have another.

“Angelica,” he said slowly. “Can you by any chance give me his email address?”

Angelica grinned. “Told you you’d like him.”

—

 **Alexander Hamilton** @a.ham

@tjeffs For all those idiots who don't know the genius that is the national bank let me have the honor to break it down for you (1/35)

 **Angelica Schuyler** @oldestandwittiest

@a.ham Oh my god the national bank isn't even active anymore

 **Thomas Jefferson** @tjeffs

@a.ham 1/35? We’re going to be here forever

 **Alexander Hamilton** @a.ham

And now why Thomas Jefferson is literally the worst (1/50)

—

John rolled his eyes as he scrolled through Alexander Hamilton’s Twitter. He was a fellow YouTuber, and if John said he didn’t stalk him on social media, he’d be lying. Alex was one of his favorite YouTubers and he would be lying if he didn’t draw a lot of inspiration from him.

Checking his phone, he found a new email and tapped it, then promptly dropped his phone.

Because no way. Alexander Hamilton did not email him. That didn’t happen.

He looked at it again.

_John Laurens-_

_I’ve watched a large majority of your videos and I absolutely love them. I was wondering if we could do a collab together sometime. I would love to hear more from you, so please call me if you would like to do a video together._

_Don’t worry, I got your email address from Angelica—I’m not a stalker. Promise._

_Hope to hear back from you soon,_

_Alexander Hamilton_

“Oh my god,” John breathed. “Oh my fucking god. Herc!”

“John?” Hercules walked into his room, confused. “What’s up?”

John grinned, holding up his phone. “ _Alexander Hamilton_ just emailed me. He wants to do a collab. He’s watched my videos!” Hercules grabbed John’s phone from him, reading the texts. “Wow,” he said, handing the phone back. “You’d better call him back!”

John’s was already dialing his number.

—

Alex sighed at the sight of a new call coming in and made a grab for his phone, answering the call without bothering to see who it might be.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Hi,” said a voice, a _familiar_ voice. “Alexander Hamilton? It’s John Laurens. You emailed me…?” 

“Oh. Right. Yes!” He bolted upright, now fully attentive. “I was wondering if we could shoot a video together of us playing a game, because I just watched all your videos and thought it’d be really fun to do. We could use Skype or something. You live in South Carolina?”

There was a silence in which John was probably processing Alex’s words (he did talk too much sometimes), before he said, “That sounds perfect. We can set up a time to record. I’ll pick out the game.”

“What are you thinking of?” Alex asked.

“Counter-Strike,” John replied, and it sounded meaningless to Alex, so he asked, “What’s that?”

“Let’s make it a surprise,” John said, and even from across the phone, Alex had a feeling he was grinning. “This is going to be so fun.”

“Should I be worried?” Alex asked, and John laughed, and there was something even prettier about that laugh when it was directed at him.

“Nah,” John said. “You’ll be fine.”

—

 **PLAYING WITH ALEXANDER HAMILTON?? |** **Counter-Strike**

_The screen was black, but there were two cam screens, one of John and one of someone else._

“Hey, everyone! I'm John Laurens in the place to be.” John grinned as the episode started. “As you can see, I’m not alone.” He gestured to the right where he hoped the other headcam was. “May I introduce Alex Hamilton, all the way from his vlogging channel, Rise Up? I’ll put a link to the description so you can check that out.”

Alex grinned and waved. “Hey, everyone,” he said with a smile. _“_ Subscribe to me so I can beat this guy on the most highly ranked YouTuber lists.”

John just laughed, shaking his head. “You wish, Hamilton.” Back to the camera, he said, “We’re going to be playing Counter-Strike today and our dear friend Alex here has never played before. So we’re going to teach him.”

“Why are you grinning like that?” Alex asked. “What does that grin mean?”

John started the game, ignoring his question.

“Okay,” Alex said, as the server loaded. “What do I do?’

“What team are you on?” John asked.

“Um...terrorist?” Alex guessed. 

“Okay. I’m on the opposite team, so we’re against each other,” John replied, grin returning. “So. One person on the terrorist team spawns with the bomb. They have to plant it on a bomb site. The counter-terrorists have to defuse it. That’s pretty much it.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Alex said. “What do you—It’s starting already?”

“Good luck!” John sang, playing the game with ease, because, hey, he’d played it a million times.

“Wait, fuck! Where do I go? How do I shoot? Where’s everyone going?” Alex yelped. “ _John what do I do?_ ”

“Uh,” John said, distracted. “Just...follow everyone else. Yeah. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“Okay. Just follow everyone else.” To the camera, Alex said, “Here’s a tip: Don’t play games with John Laurens. He is literally the worst.”

“Watch out,” John said and Alex gave a little shriek as his screen flashed red. “What was that?”

“I killed you,” John answered simply, smiling at Alex.

“You…” Alex trailed off as the words “Counter-Terrorists Win” appeared on the screen. “I fucking hate you John. I am so done.”

“Another round,” John bargained. “For your subscribers.”

“Fine. Just for my subscribers. Because I love you.”

“Aww.” John said.

“Talking to my subscribers, John. Not you.”

“Okay, I’m just going to kill you again,” John muttered and Alex laughed at that.

“I’m starting to regret this decision to play with you,” Alex joked and John clapped a hand to his heart.

“Alexander!” he gasped. “You wound me!”

Alex just winked at him. “I’m only joking, my dear Laurens.”

_My dear Laurens. Shit._

—

After their collab together, John’s views seemed to skyrocket, his subscriber count rising again, and everyone seemed to be begging for another video of them together. So they did two more, using skype to talk to one another and playing games together.

There was also another problem that sprung up, when John checked in on the comments on his video.

> _Omg they are so gay for eachother_
> 
> _I ship it (like if you agree)_
> 
> _LAMS IS REAL_
> 
> _They are so cute omg_
> 
> _At 2:13 did you see that LOOK_
> 
> _LAMS AWAY_

“Um, Herc?” John called, eyes glued on the computer screen. “Do you know what ‘Lams’ is?” He knew the answer, deep down, but he needed confirmation.

“I ship it so hard,” was Hercules only response and John groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Alex didn’t seem to have a problem with it as much as John did, responding with flippant replies to questions about their relationship instead of shooting it down vehemently like John did. He used their ship as clickbait for his videos, using titles such as “IS LAMS REAL?” and “WE’RE DATING NOW??” and using “shippy” pictures as thumbnails.

Needless to say, he did get more views for it.

Alex didn’t seem to mind the ship, but John...this all made him a lot more confused.

As someone who was still in the closet and unsure of his sexuality and hadn’t had a crush in years and barely knew Alex, he was had no idea what the heck he was feeling. He only could hope that whatever _this_ was, it’d pass.

He was lucky enough to do a few videos with Alex, so it wasn’t like he was going to do another. John sighed, shaking his head. This would all be over soon.

—

 **THIS WAS A MISTAKE |** **Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes**

_The video opened to show Alex and John grinning, John watching Alex as he started the video._

“Hey everyone! This is Alex and welcome back to another video! I’m here with my friend John! Say hi, John.” 

“Hi,” John said, smiling and waving.

“So, we’re playing a game John suggested, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. Kind of a mouthful, huh?”

“Alexander Hamilton’s talking about something being a _mouthful_ ,” John muttered. “That’s new.”

“ _You’re_ a mouthful,” Alex shot back.

John raised an eyebrow. “What does that even mean?”

Alex shrugged. “I have no idea.” As with every video with John, banter came easy and natural, something he never thought would be possible. “Anyway, John, why don’t you tell us what this game is about?”

“Okay,” John said. “So. There’s this bomb, right? And one of us has to defuse it. The other has to give instructions on _how_ to defuse it. Here’s the catch, though: Neither of us can see what the other does. Cue miscommunication and the loss of friendships!”

“Well, this sounds like a blast,” Alex said. “Let’s get started then.”

The video ended up being a mix of swearing, yelling, laughing, and many, _many_ explosions. It was really a testament to their friendship, Alex thought, that afterwards John told him he had so much fun they _had_ to do another video together.

And suddenly Alex found himself a whole new branch of videos to make and a giant high-school crush on John Laurens.

—

“Hey, John.” Alex’s voice came over the phone and John felt himself automatically relax at the sound. 

“Hi, Alex,” John said with a smile. “Any reason for the call?”

“Maybe I just wanted to talk to you,” Alex replied.

John laughed. “Seriously. Why are you calling me?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” Alex said simply. “I feel we don’t really hang out enough off camera, y’know?” “It’s kind of hard to,” John pointed out. “Seeing as you’re in New York and I’m in South Carolina.”

“How is it down there, anyway?” Alex asked. “I’ve never been anywhere down South.” John knew Alex came from the Caribbean and that he had no family, something he had mentioned offhandedly in a video, but John had never asked about it, not wanting to pry.

“It’s okay,” John said. “I’m thinking of moving, actually. Trying to get away from my dad.”

“Care to talk about it?” Alex asked and John sighed.

“He’s just talking about how I need a girlfriend, to get a ‘real’ job, stuff like that. I don’t mention that I’m making more than him from ad revenue. I hate that people think that this is a sustainable job! It _is_ and I love it, and, hey, I affect a lot of people’s jobs so why does any of that matter to you?” He groaned frustration.

“Tell me about it,” Alex agreed. “I’m lucky that I don’t have any crazy family members jumping down my throat, at least. And I get asked that a lot too, what my ‘real’ job is,” Alex said. “And, hey, I get shit fathers.” He sounded wistful, and, not for the first time, John wondered what Alex’s story was. “You can talk to me.”

“I know,” John said with a smile, and maybe, on the other line, Alex was smiling too.

—

**Answering Your Questions!**

“ _Bonjour, mon amis_!” Lafayette beamed at the camera. “ _Je m'appelle Lafayette_. As most of you already know, I’ve asked you guys to tweet me questions for me to answer. But before that, I have some more important news. Much more important news.”

Lafayette took a breath to steady themselves. _It’d be okay_. “Some of my friends already knew that I was struggling with my identity, but now I feel comfortable enough to let you know that I’m nonbinary. I don’t identify as either a man or a woman and I use they/them pronouns. And, wow, that was harder to say then I thought.” They grinned up at the camera. “You guys have been such a loving community and I hope that you’ll accept me.”

“So, um, now that that’s off my chest, I’ll start answering the tweets.” They cleared their throats and read out the first one. “Are you thinking of doing a collab with A.ham?”

“I am planning one!” Lafayette said. “I was thinking of doing one with John, Alex, and Hercules, though it’s kind of hard, seeing as none of us live close together. I was thinking we could be called _the Revolutionary Set_. Sounds good, right? But, nooo, Alex wants to call us “the Hamilsquad”.” They shrugged. “Comment down below which one you prefer. Although I doubt that’s going to get Alex to change his mind.”

“Do you have a girlfriend? I do,” they answered the next question. “Her name is Adrienne and she’s possibly the most wonderful girlfriend in the whole world. We prefer to keep our relationship more quiet, though.”

“Stop faking your accent,” was another question. “You’re not even French.” The video cut out to Lafayette standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

“I live in _Paris_!” they yelled. “I think my accent is well deserved!”

The video cut back to their recording room. “I hate when people ask me that,” they said. “Do you think I have nothing other to do then faking an accent?” They shook their head. “Some people.” 

The next question was better than the last. “Are you going to Vidcon?” they read out. “I am in fact!” they said with a grin. “I’ll be doing a panel with Hercules, John and Alex and it’ll be amazing and fun and I can’t wait to see all of you guys. Of course that’s not for a while though, but when it comes, you’ll love it.”

—

The past months were amazing for John. He hit twelve million, Lafayette skyrocketing to _sixteen_ million, and Alex nine million. It was slightly terrifying, to say, that they had their own _fandom_ , but John loved all his fans (even if they did try to force a relationship on him).

He and Hercules were on skype with Lafayette, Alex, the Schuylers, and Maria, and it was hectic, to say the least.

“I’m flying over tomorrow,” Lafayette said. John couldn’t have been prouder for them for outing themselves on the internet, and when they came to America, he was going to be the first to hug them. “So where are we going to meet up?”

“We can meet up where me and the Schuylers are staying,” Maria said. “I’ll send you all the coordinates.”

“Perfect, perfect, _perfect_ ,” Alex said, bouncing slightly. John loved all of his uncontained energy. Alex caught his eyes and grinned and John smiled nervously back. 

Hercules rolled his eyes at the two of them, then said to Maria, “That sounds great. So, say we meet up at 11:00? We can have lunch together.”

“Awesome,” Eliza said. “That gives us enough time to settle in.”

“Speaking of settling in,” John chimed in. “How’s Maria doing? I heard she moved into the apartment next to the Schuylers.”

“Great,” Maria said. “The Schuylers are a big help.”

“You mean we carry all your bags for you,” Peggy said.

“You mean _I_ carry all of Maria’s bags,” Angelica corrected.

Maria gave a little laugh. “Yeah, it’s going fine. Though it’d be even better if _someone_ —” she shot a look at Alex. “—didn’t shove a camera in my face every five seconds.”

“For the views, Maria!” Alex protested. “For the views!”

Eliza rolled her eyes. “Better than how we harass poor Aaron.”

Aaron Burr was a little joke and Eliza and Alex’s channels, popping in at random times, being approached by Alex and having the camera thrust at him. He always looked annoyed by Alex, but everyone could tell that he enjoyed it. A little. 

“Burr loves me,” Alex said. “But Laf, Herc, John—you should move to New York City sometime! It’d be awesome, to have all of us together!”

“Well, I’d love to come to America,” Lafayette replied. “I’m actually planning to move here sometime in the future. New York City would be a perfect place.”

“John?” Alex asked, giving him puppy-dog eyes, and John found himself wondering if he’d deny Alex of anything.

“Maybe,” he said.

—

“Alex, chill,” Eliza said, frowning at him. “You’re going to be fine.”

“I know that,” Alex said, bouncing slightly, wanting to do something to release his stress. “It’s just Vidcon. I’ve done panels before. I’m just anxious, you know? This is the first time I’m meeting John or Lafayette or Hercules in person.”

“Especially because you love John,” Eliza teased him. “Lams is real!” Alex laughed along with her nervously. Let her believe that his crush on John wasn’t real.

“Anyway,” Alex said awkwardly, bringing her attention away from ‘Lams’. “Where are we meeting up with them?”

Eliza looked at him oddly, probably wondering why the ever-so-on-point Alex was suddenly forgetting a location.

“Outside of our hotel,” Eliza said. “Which is why I came to get you. Remember?”

“Just slipped my mind,” Alex said evasively, stepping out of the hotel. The city of Los Angeles was nice. He preferred New York City, but it was still a lovely sight.

Eliza led him through the streets, Alex following blindly after her, more preoccupied with staring at the buildings around him. Coming from a small place in the Caribbean, skyscrapers still amazed him, despite living in a city himself.

“Looks like John, Laf, and Herc are already here,” Eliza said, grinning. “Hey guys!” She waved.

Alex followed her gaze. John looked up and met his eyes.

His heart stopped.

John looked so much clearer, so much more there, so much more _real_ standing in front of him as opposed to on a screen. He grinned, walking over to Alex and hugging him tight.

“Hey, Alex,” John said. “Nice to finally see you in person.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, and he felt that _nice_ was a bit too much of an understatement. John drew back, and Alex couldn’t help but feel disappointed, which didn’t make sense because the hug was long enough as it is.

“All the way from New York, huh?” John asked. “How was your flight?”

“Good,” Alex replied, trying hard to concentrate because their hands were still together and John wasn’t letting go and _fuck_ was he trying to kill him?

“ _Mon ami! Petit lion!_ ” Lafayette crashed into him and he couldn’t help but laugh, hugging them back.

Hercules walked up from behind him and picked him easily up. “You’re so much tinier in person, Alex!” he said, dropping him with a squeak.

“Well, you’re so much _taller_ in person,” Alex shot back. “I’m not that short! John, back me up!”

“You’re even smaller than me,” John said, resting an elbow on his shoulder. “And _I’m_ short.”

“We just met in person and already I’m feeling attacked,” Alex said dramatically. “I can’t believe I call you people my friends.”

Peggy draped an arm around him. “But you love us,” she said.

“I do not,” Alex replied.

“He loves us,” Maria confirmed.

“How about we hit up that restaurant around the corner?” Angelica suggested. “We can catch up, talk, see what we’re doing today.” She looked towards Alex and Lafayette. “Are you two going to vlog?”

“Nah,” Alex said and Lafayette shook their head. “I think I’d like it to just be us, you know?”

John drew an arm around Alex, and Alex couldn’t help but feel grateful that none of these “shippy” moments were being recorded on video.

“Just us,” John said, grinning down at Alex. “I can work with that.”

Alex smiled back at John, but inside he was thinking, _John Laurens will be the death of me_.

—

John was giddy with excitement and nerves. He, Lafayette, Hercules, and Alex were doing a panel together, dubbed “the Revolutionary Set” after doing collabs together. ( _Not_ the Hamilsquad, to Alex’s disappointment).

“What took you so long?” he asked Alex when he finally showed up as they were getting ready to go out on stage.

“Thomas fucking Jefferson,” Alex hissed. “He has the fucking nerve to show up and tell me _I’m_ the one with terrible videos.”

Thomas was another YouTuber. His videos were similar to Alex and the two frequently showed up in each other videos, bickering with one another, much to the annoyance of James Madison, Thomas’s best friend who would occasionally appear in his videos.

“You’re actually enemies?” John asked, surprised. He assumed that it was just an act they pulled for videos.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “Since college, actually. I _hate_ him.”

“Wow,” John said. “I _have_ to meet him,” he decided.

“You’d hate him,” Alex said. “I can tell already.”

“What?” John shook his head. “How would you know?”

“I know you,” Alex replied simply, and before John could say anything to that, he tapped John’s shoulder. 

“Come on.” His smile was positively radiant, a stark contrast to the anger he was showing just seconds ago. “Let’s go out on stage.”

They walked out to cheers and hundreds of people in the audience. John had to double-check he wasn’t dreaming, because there was _no way_ this many people showed up.

“ _Bonjour, mes amis_!” Lafayette called out, earning cheers. They were the most popular YouTuber present, after all.

“Hey, y’all!” John said with a grin, waving. 

“So!” Alex clapped his hands, bouncing up and down. “We’re going to answer your questions that you tweet at us. The tweets are going to appear on the screen right there.” He pointed to a couple of screens around the stage.”You can also tell us whatever you want us to do and we’ll do it!”

“As long as it’s legal,” Hercules chimed in.

“You can also tell us whatever you want us to do and I’ll do it!” Alex said and Hercules whacked him on the head. 

Lafayette laughed, shaking their head at the audience. “This is what I have to deal with,” he said. “I’m lucky I’m in France most of the time.” 

“Let’s start!” John said. “First tweet is…who would die first on a deserted island? Oh, easy, Alex.”

“Alex,” Hercules agreed.

“Definitely Alex,” Lafayette said with a nod.

“What? Why would _I_ die?” Alex said incredulously.

“You’re, like, tiny,” Hercules said. “You would immediately be eaten or, I don’t know, fall in a hole.”

“I survived a disease that killed my mother, lived on the streets for years, and was the sole survivor of a hurricane! What have _you_ guys done?” 

“Still Alex,” Lafayette said. They grinned at the audience. “This is already turning out crazy. Next question. What is your first video on YouTube?”

“Mine was this really shitty vlog of myself doing this debate on...I don’t even remember. I took it down since then because _wow_ it was embarrassing,” Alex said.

“I think mine was a makeup tutorial,” Lafayette said, thinking. “My eyeliner was awful.” John had saw that video, and Lafayette’s eyeliner was flawless, in his opinion, but what did he know about makeup.

“Mine was just a video of how to sew a pillow,” Hercules said with a shrug.

“That’s it?” Lafayette asked. “How _boring_.”

“Well, then, what’s John’s?” Alex piped up, sweeping down towards John and resting an elbow on his shoulder. “A horror game playthrough?”

“Nah,” John said. “It was a speedpaint.”

“What?” Alex asked.

“Yeah,” John said. “I drew a picture, sped it up, added music, and posted it. That’s what my channel was originally at first.”

“I didn’t know you drew!” Alex said, now clinging on to his arm. “You have to draw me!”

“That’s a terrible idea,” said John, who, admittedly, had drawn several pictures of Alex in his sketchbook. “What’s the next question?”

“Um...favorite color?” Alex read aloud. “John? Want to start?”

“Sure,” John said. “I’d have to say...blue? Green-blue? Something around there.”

“Pink,” Hercules decided. “Or pastels in general. Laf?”

“The rainbow, duh,” Lafayette said. “I think it matches my personality. What about you, Alex?”

“What are the colors of John’s eyes?” Alex said offhandedly and John nearly choked. “Just kidding, it’s green.”

“Another question?” John asked quickly, averting his eyes downwards and away from Alex’s.

Hercules started laughing at the next question. “Alex, you said you’d do whatever the audience wanted you to, right?”

Alex shrugged. “Right.”

“Well, you have to kiss John.”

John’s eyes widening, sputtering out incoherent thoughts, while Alex just gave a crooked grin and reached up to plant a kiss on John’s cheek.

He moved away and smiled at John as he did so, like it was no big deal. John sincerely hoped that everyone missed his blush, but by the time the panel was over, it was already recorded, gifed, and spread around the Internet.

Sometimes, John _really_ hated technology.

—

 **John Laurens** @theplacetobe

A vlog’s going up tomorrow! Not today because I’m exhausted from editing

 **Alexander Hamilton** @a.ham

omg what a loser

 **John Laurens** @theplacetobe

Love you too 

—

**IN THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD**

“Hey, y’all!” John grinned at the camera. “John here! As you can see,” he continued, moving the camera around him. “I’m not in South Carolina! Nope, I moved to New York City a few days ago.” He gave a crooked grin. “Sorry for not telling anyone, but I wanted it to be a surprise! It’s going to be especially great, seeing as all my friends live here.”

“And don’t worry!” He said suddenly, sensing the unasked question. “Herc is here too! He’s the one who wanted to move actually, and was going to leave me, until I said I wanted to come here too, to the quote-unquote ‘greatest city in the world’.”

Starting to walk down the bustling streets of New York City, John let out a little laugh. “Everyone’s staring at me strange for vlogging. Wonder if this is how Alex feels. Anyway,” he continued, clearing his throat. “Herc and I have separate apartments now but he’s still going to appear in a lot of my videos. Right now we’re going to the Schuylers’ apartment. Due to some, ah, social media stalking, you could say, I found out Maria’s there too. So let’s pop in and say hello!”

The video cut to John knocking on the Schuylers apartment, raising his eyebrows at the camera at the shout of, “Peggy, answer the fucking door!”. The door was flung open and Peggy opened her mouth to say something, before gasping. “John?”

“Hey, Peggy,” John said, waving, making sure the camera captured her reaction. 

“What are you doing here?” Peggy crushed him in a hug. 

“I moved here,” John replied and Peggy’s mouth dropped open. She dragged him into the room, screaming, “Guys, John lives here now!”

“What? John?” Angelica shot up from the couch. “You moved to the city?”

John nodded, shrugging. “Yeah,” he said. “Guess you’re stuck with me now.”

Eliza shrieked, running to hug John and Maria flashed him a thumbs-up from behind her back. 

“Great to see you, John,” she said. “And that video’s going up, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” John replied. “A day in the life at the Schuyler household, everyone,” he said, moving the camera to show the sisters. “Well, I’m off to go see Alex,” he said to the girls, waving to them. The video cut to him walking down the street.

“I think Alex’s apartment is somewhere down here,” John said. “I’ll pop in, record his expression and hopefully won’t lose his friendship. I think—” He was cut off by someone nearly colliding into him.

“Shit, sorry,” the person said, fumbling to take hold of their camera, then looking up and saying, “Wait...John?”

“Oh my god,” John said, making sure he was filming _all_ of this. “Alex? Are you vlogging?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, recording John now too. “Same with you? I am totally posting this. What are you doing here?”

“I moved here!” John said with a grin. “I was just coming over to surprise you.” He took Alex’s arm and dragged him to the side of a shop, away from the pedestrians who were looking at them oddly at the two.

“You’re actually here,” Alex said, in something akin to disbelief, smiling up at John. “Oh, this is going to be _so_ awesome.”

—

John was beginning to wonder if moving to New York City was a good idea. He and Alex saw each other almost daily, which was _amazing_ , but because of the increase of videos together came the increase of...shipping.

John was okay with whatever people wanted to do, whether it be fanfiction or fanart, but when it came to asking intrusive questions or pressuring him about his sexuality, well, he wasn’t okay with that. And when he _actually_ had a crush on Alex, it made everything a whole lot more complicated.

Most of the time, the fans were actually completely on point, noting every little blush or stare, until John thought, _Am I really that obvious?_ and other times being so out of the blue, John had no idea what they were talking about.

Alex still didn’t help. He continued to flirt with John, kiss his cheeks, proclaim it was “for the views!” and so on. But after another of his “Reading Your Comments” videos, where he offhandedly mentioned he was bisexual when some online idiot told him he was gay (and how was that an insult, exactly?), everything kind of exploded, talking about how he _definitely_ had a chance with John and how John was _definitely_ part of the LGBT+ community (well...he was). 

So when things started to spiral a _bit_ out of control, John took action and set up his camera.

—

**On the topic of shipping…**

_The video opened up to John sitting nervously in his chair, swinging back and forth before stopping, looking up at the camera_.

“Hey, everyone! I'm John Laurens in the place to be. This isn’t going to be a normal video, ‘cause I’ve got some things to say.” John takes a breath, preparing himself.

“So, ever since I’ve done some videos with Alex, you guys have seriously blown up our relationship. What is it you call us...Lams?” He turns off camera. “Is it Lams, Herc?”

There was a distant, muffled noise, and John nodded, before turning back to the camera. “Yeah, so we have a ship name now, and I’d like to discuss exactly how extreme it gets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as much about shipping as the next, but this is a serious problem.” 

A picture flashed up of an onslaught of tweets. “I love you all, you know that, but I really don’t appreciate being forced into liking a guy just because I make some videos with him, and I know people are putting some pressure on Alex too. If you’re going to ship us, please don’t harass us or bombard us with questions about our relationship. And about our relationship…” 

John bit his lip, looking down, then back up again. “I’m straight, you know that right? Alex and I are purely friends. That’s all we are. Just friends.”

—

“Just friends,” Alex muttered. “Perfect.” This was just his luck, because not only was John _straight_ , but he had the ultimate friendzone. And why would he even _try_ to confess to John if all he wanted was to be _friends_? It was a mess, no matter what.

He sighed, opening another of John’s videos, hoping to find some distraction from his obviously unrequited crush. The video loaded to see John at a beach, _shirtless_ , and Alex gave a squeak and slammed down his laptop. Nope. Not doing that.

—

**LIVESTREAM**

“Is it working?” John asked. 

“It’s working,” Alex confirmed. He grinned up at the camera. “Hello everyone! We’re live! Glad you could all join us.”

“Generally we do these sorts of things for charity,” John said gesturing around. “And, by the way, thank you so much for all the donations on our last charity livestream. But this one’s just me and Alex for fun and it’s probably going to be a lot shorter.”

“We’re going to try a lie detector test,” Alex said. “We’ve got a lie detector right here and a bunch of questions right here,” He pointed off to the side where he hoped YouTube was displaying the pop-up chat. “And we’re going to try this out.” He paused. “Or well,” He angled his head at Alex, who was rigged up to the polygraph. “ _Alex_ is.”

“Question one,” John said. “Did you get a cup of coffee when I told you not to?” He looked towards the camera. “Because Alex needs to _chill_ on his caffeine intake.”

“No,” Alex said and John grinned at him.

“That’s a lie!” he said.

“Ok, fine,” Alex relented. “So...I might have had a cup of black coffee. This morning. And the morning before that.”

“Well, now we know it works. Or works most of the time, then,” John said. “And I’ll yell at you later.”

They ran through so more questions, taking a moment to stop and update everyone on what they were planning next for their channels, before starting again.

“Next question,” John said. “Oh, this is a good one.” He laughed. “Do you have a crush on John Laurens?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Crazy shippers,” he joked. “No.”

John checked to see if he was telling the truth, even though he knew it was and even though it would break his heart to see it shown as a truth.

The lines spiked up. _Lie_.

Alex went white, but he didn’t look completely surprised, and he locked eyes with John. John could tell what he was thinking.

_Please don’t let this go live on the internet_.

John forced a laugh. “Well, sorry all of you ‘lams shippers’ out there, but that was a truth.” He spared a glance at the his laptop to see the chat going crazy, people typing in disappointment, people protesting that lams _was_ real, and felt a wave of relief. They were safe.

“That’s all for now,” John said, smiling at the camera. Alex had now jumped on, and flashed his trademark _Alexander Hamilton_ grin. “Time goes fast, huh?”

“Indeed it does, my dear Laurens,” Alex said, so easily it was almost scary. “See you all in our next videos and thanks for watching!”

He flipped off the camera. The two mindlessly took down their equipment, placing away the camera, until they finally sat down on the couch, facing one another. The silence that fell was suffocating. 

“So,” Alex said weakly. “The secret’s out, I guess. Can’t believe those shippers were right, huh?” He laughed, a harsh, dry not-laugh, not meeting John’s eyes. 

“That wasn’t the machine reading something wrong, was it?” John asked carefully. “You actually—”

“Like you,” Alex finished, still not meeting John’s eyes. “Yeah.” He sighed. “This is...You...I can leave, if you want,” he offered. “We don’t need to keep doing videos if you’re uncomfortable.”

“Alex—” John started, but Alex was talking faster now.

“We could just say that we’re too busy to do another collab. I could even stop hanging out with our friends, if you wanted.”

“Alex, for _once_ in your life,” John said exasperatedly, walking over to him and lifting his chin up. “Just shut up.”

Talking with Alex for the first time was thrilling, playing games with him was amazing, going out for lunch with him was dreamlike but _kissing_ him?

Well, that was indescribable.

Alex kissed like he talked, passionate and bold and so full of _something-ness_. They moved closer to each other, because closer was _better_ , hands snaking around waists and through hair, lips curling into smiles against lips, eyes closing. Time seemed to have stopped, and John only focus on _Alex Alex Alex_ and nothing else.

They finally pulled away because, hey, oxygen was a thing, John lacing his fingers with Alex’s, Alex staring at John, looking slightly dazed.

“Damn, Laurens,” Alex finally said, breathless. “If _that’s_ what it takes to get me to shut up…”

John laughed, somewhat awkwardly, shrugging and admitting, “I wanted to do that for a while.”

“Me too,” Alex agreed quietly. There was a silence, before Alex asked, “So...what _are_ we now, exactly?”

“Boyfriends?” John suggested and Alex nodded, a smile beginning on the corners of his lips. “But what do you want to tell the internet?”

“They don’t need to know everything,” Alex said. “We’ll keep it low-key. Just act...normal? Let’s let them find out on their own.”

“That’s a good idea,” John said. “I just…”

“Yeah?” Alex prompted him, voice soft.

“I just can’t believe our fans were _right_.”

—

**HOUSE TOUR!**

_The video started with an unfamiliar background—a door of a different apartment._

“Heyyyy,” Alex said, grinning at the camera. “This is A.Ham with a house tour!” He turned the camera to see the apartment door. “John and I decided to buy an apartment together and this way we’re actually closer to Herc and Laf. And, if you don’t watch their videos, Laf moved here to New York! It’s indefinite how long they’re going to stay here, so I’m going to try and do as much videos as I can with them.”

“Enough of boring talk. Let’s head in! Shit, the key is stuck.” After fumbling with the key for a moment, he opened the door, presenting the slightly-bigger apartment.

“Nice, isn’t it?” Alex said. “There’s the kitchen. John and I switch off making dinner, but he’s better at baking, in my opinion. The bathroom is right there,” He darted in quickly, smiling at himself as he appeared in the mirror. “Hi, me! Anyway, it’s just, like, a bathroom. Nothing to special. We argue a lot about shower time.”

“Here’s our offices, where we record videos. John uses it more often than I do, since I vlog a lot.”

After touring some more places, Alex walked into the bedroom. “And here’s our bedroom! And there’s our bed. A lot of magic happens in that bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the camera. “Like...sleeping.” Alex laughed. “John and I wanted a bigger bed so we could both sleep on it comfortably. Before, when we spent the night at each other’s places, we had a hard time sleeping together.”

He was in the middle of the bedroom tour when a door clattered open and closed and John called, “Alex, I’m home!”

“John’s here!” Alex said to the camera. “Hey, babe,” he said, walking towards John and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“You’re recording?” John asked. “House tour?”

“Yup,” Alex said. “I’m finishing now.” To the camera, he said, “Hope you enjoyed this video! John and I have been dating for six months, friends for even longer, so sharing an apartment seemed pretty fitting.”

“He’s terrible to live with,” John chimed in. “I hate this guy.”

Alex swatted at him, laughing. “I’ll see you in the next video.” The two waved at the camera, still laughing at one another. “Bye!”

—

“What. The. Fuck,” Peggy said, staring at her laptop screen. “You saw that, right? Dating for _six months_?”

 _Nine_ of them, Peggy, Angelica, Eliza, Maria, Hercules, Lafayette, Thomas, James, _and_ Aaron were crowded around Peggy’s laptop, watching the video she had pulled up while they were waiting for Alex and John to show up at the coffee shop. Peggy’s muffin remained uneaten and her coffee rapidly cooling, still in shock at Alex’s latest vlog. 

“They’re joking, right?” Thomas asked. “They aren’t really dating. They didn’t really move in together.”

“They did,” Hercules murmured. “Told me about it over the phone how excited they were.”

“One bed,” Lafayette breathed. “ _Mon Dieu_.”

“How could we have not known?” Eliza asked, looking around at her sisters frantically. “They denied it so many times...but they _trust_ us, don’t they?”

Aaron, however, was watching the video with small smile on his face. “Congrats on those two for finally moving in together! It was about time, anyway. They’re probably the cutest couple I’ve ever seen. I just hope they won’t be bombarded with questions.”

“Wait, you _knew_?” Angelica asked. 

Aaron shrugged. “I mean, it was _pretty_ obvious.” He paused. “You didn’t?”

Before Angelica could respond, the door swung open and Alex and John walked into the coffee shop, smiling and holding hands.

“Well, if it isn’t Aaron Burr, sir!” Alex said, grinning broadly and snapping a picture of Aaron. Aaron grimaced. Peggy had never seen a full-body shudder before.

“Hello, Alexander,” Aaron said dryly. “Took you long enough to come here.”

“Sorry,” John said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “Had some last-minute editing to do. Oh, hey, Thomas, James. Didn’t know you were here.”

“Laf invited us,” James said. “And no one’s going to start a fight.” He looked pointedly at Thomas and Alex. “ _No one_.” He shook his head. “Boyfriends, huh?” he asked John, who nodded in agreement.

 _Thomas and James are dating? Since when?_ Peggy thought distantly, at the back of her mind, but ignored it, because she had more pressing matters. “Explain,” she said, pushing the laptop towards Alex.

Alex looked at it confusedly. “It’s a vlog,” he said obviously. “Of my house.”

“Yeah,” Peggy said. “One where you say you and John are dating? I thought you two were friends! I thought John was straight!”

“Well, we _were_ friends,” John said. “And I was chilling in the closet for an indefinite amount of times. But, yeah, we’re dating and I’m really fucking gay.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Maria asked, looking hurt. “You know you can trust us.”

“Yeah,” Alex replied indifferently. “But. I mean. It’s kinda funny to see your reactions.” Scrolling through the comments, he added, “Not to mention the comment section here.”

> _wtf theyre dating? Since when?_
> 
> _Omg i have to rewatch all their videos now_
> 
> _Did i miss something? They’re not actually dating, right?_
> 
> _LAMS IS REAL LAMS IS REAL LAMS IS REAL LAMS IS REAL_
> 
> _AHHHHHH THEYRE DATING!!!!!!!_
> 
> _Wow i really like your house! It’s so nice!_

And, of course, there were some of the more... _homophobic_ comments, but Peggy didn’t bother looking at them.

“We’re going to address the issue in an upcoming video,” Alex reassured them. “Answer questions and stuff like that.”

“Wow,” Peggy muttered. “So, you and Alex are dating, Thomas and James are dating, anything else I should know?”

“Well,” Aaron said. “I’m engaged. The wedding’s in a few months, if you’d like to attend.”

“ _What the fuck?_ ” Peggy shrieked, throwing her muffin at Aaron.

—

**Relationship Q &A with Alex**

“Hey, everyone! I’m John Laurens in the place to be, and I’m here with my lovely boyfriend...Alex!” John started the video, smiling as Alex waved at the camera. “So, Alex and I have been dating for six months and we’re getting the feeling that people have a few questions.” Pictures of numerous tweets and comments flashed on the screen before disappearing again. “We’re going to answer as many as we can to clear up some confusion.”

“Let’s get into this, shall we?” Alex said, clapping his hands. “This is going to be fun. Question one. This is for John. You’re gay?”

“Yes, I am,” John said, laughing a little. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be dating Alex. I came out to my dad and we’ve talked some things over and I kind of learned to accept myself, I guess? Alex helped a lot.”

“Question two,” Alex said. “How did you two start dating? Oh boy. This is _quite_ a story. How about you tell them, John?”

“Right,” John said. “So. There was a livestream we did with lie detector test and one of you guys asked if Alex had a crush on me. He said no, which you all saw, but the lie detector said otherwise. And we both knew he was lying so I really quickly wrapped up the livestream to get the facts straight. And the rest is history.”

“Notice John didn’t mention how he actually didn’t talk to me and instead just kissed me,” Alex noted. “He has terrible communication skills.”

“Moving on!” John said instead.

Alex started laughing at the next question. “When are you going to get married?” he read out. “Not for a long time,” he replied. “We’re still young, we’ve got time. Marriage isn’t a big issue for us.”

“The next question is how the fandom affected our relationship. This is tricky,” John said. “It was pretty hard because we’d always shoot down the possibility of liking each other, which made me even more certain that we could never date. And to top it all off, Alex’s flirting _really_ confused me.”

“Mostly, you didn’t really change much.” Alex gave a wave of his hands. “You’re good, no need to sweat. If anything, you kind of moved us to act quicker. So...thank you?” He paused. “But of course, this doesn’t mean that pressuring a person into a relationship is okay. That’s _never_ okay, but I think John’s video on that really cleared it up. Next question is if we’re going to merge channels.”

“Unless you want to see Alex attempt to make a let’s play video, then no,” John answered. “And no one wants to see me vlog. So, for a quick answer, just subscribe to me, not Alex.”

“Fuck you.” Alex swatted John. “You nearly have thirteen million. Shut up.”

They ran through more questions until John read the last question. “Is this real or is it just a joke?”

“This is definitely real,” Alex said, slinging his arm around John. Then he paused, looking at John. “This _is_ real, right?”

“Six months, Alexander,” John muttered, rolling his eyes. “What do you think?”

“This is real!” Alex confirmed. “If John doesn’t break up with me after this.” “What’s our anniversary?” John asked him, a crooked grin on his face.

Alex paused, then said evasively, “That’s all for now! We’ll see you in the next video!”

John laughed, reaching over to turn of the camera. “Bye, guys.”

—

The two were on the couch, Alex mindlessly on his phone, cuddled up close to John. Winter was nearly there, and Alex’s “fragile Caribbean body” couldn’t handle the cold, cue him latching onto John.

“The video we posted was pretty popular,” Alex murmured, voice low with drowsiness, watching as John flipped through channels on . “We should do more relationship stuff. It’s fun, too.”

“Mmm, yeah,” John agreed. “So, we’re going to become that disgustingly cute couple?”

“We already _are_ the disgustingly cute couple,” Alex said, tossing his phone off to the side. “But I’m too tired to think of YouTube right now. I’d rather just lie here with you.”

John huffed out a laugh and Alex looked at him curiously. “What?”

“It’s just…” John struggled to find words. “I never thought I’d be here. With a stable job, a great community, friends, _you_. It’s kind of amazing.”

Alex smiled at him for a moment, before reaching up to kiss him softly and sweetly. Not for the fandom, not for laughs, not for views, but for _them_.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed quietly. “It is.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a Christmas fic to my younger sister, who's loves both lams and youtube, so I gave her the best of both worlds.


End file.
